Power and Pitching lead MAU to victory

MAU senior Kori Bow takes a healthy cut a pitch during her at bat in the fourth inning of Saturday's game against Otter Valley. The Patriots beat Otter Valley, 12-2, to improve to 7-1 on the season.

MAU freshman Catherine Worthington leads of second base during the fourth inning of Saturday's game against Otter Valley. Worthington had a home run and 2 RBIs on the day for the Patriots in their 12-2 win over Otter Valley.

MAU sophomore Taylor DiCrainan throws a pitch of the mound during Saturday's game against Otter Valley. DiCranian hit a home run and had two RBIs at the plate, while striking out five Otters on the mound in the Patriots 12-2 win over Otter Valley.

MAU senior Jordyn Upright smacks a single up the middle to score a run in the fourth inning of Saturday's game against Otter Valley. With their 12-2 win over Otter Valley, the Patriots are now 7-1 on the season.

BENNINGTON — The power of the home run ball was the story for the Mount Anthony softball team in their game against Otter Valley on Saturday.

MAU smashed out a season-high three home runs in route to a 12-2 victory over the Otters.

The long ball came into effect for the Patriots in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Going into the inning tied up 1-1 with the Otters, MAU scored two runs on an RBI single by Taylor DiCranian and Kori Bow scoring on a wild pitch to take a 3-1 lead.

After Jordyn Upright hit a RBI single up the middle with the bases loaded to give MAU a three run lead, the Patriots first home run of the day was put into action by junior Marleigh Greene.

Greene powered an opposite field blast over the fence in right field for a grand slam that broke the game wide up open for the Patriots, who now led 8-1.

"It felt great to hit a grand slam," Greene said. "That inning we all started to hit ball really well and, with our team, when one person starts to hit - the rest of team follows up with another and that was the case in that huge fourth inning for us."

Later on in the inning, freshman Catherine Worthington added the second home run on the day for MAU, hitting a solo shot over the left field wall that finished off a eight run inning for the Patriots.

The home run was Worthington's second, in as many days, as the freshman has been a big contributor in the Patriots past two victories - having three hits and five RBIs in Friday's win against Drury and knocking out two hits for two RBIs against Otter Valley.

"I just try my hardest to get on base when I'm up there at the plate," Worthington said. "Lately I have been seeing the ball really well and I have been able to put a lot good swings together in my at bats. I'm just trying to help the team win and I'm happy I have been able to do so in the past couple of games."

Leading 9-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Patriots saw their final digger of the day come off the bat of DiCranian who smacked a solo-shot to deep center to bring in the MAU run total into the double digits.

DiCranian did not just shine at the plate for MAU, but also did a great job for the Patriots on the mound as well.

The sophomore pitched five solid innings, giving up one earned run on three hits and struck out five Otter Valley batters.

"I did a good job jamming their hitters and that got me a lot fly ball outs," DiCranian said. "Whether it's at the plate or on the mound, I just want to help my team get the win."

The Patriots added two more runs in the fifth inning off a RBI triple by Jamie Boyle, who later would score on a pass ball to extend the MAU lead to 10.

Junior Katie Saunders then came in relief of DiCranian in the sixth to closed out the game for MAU, pitching two perfect innings, racking up four strikeouts in the process and the Patriots were on their way to their seventh win of the season.

"I'm really proud of how the kids played today and I think we took our play to the next level today," said MAU coach Katie Contrada. "We hit the ball really hard today and I thought we played really well on defense. We have been very confident at the plate these past few games and you can see that has been a big factor in us getting a lot hits and scoring runs. We're taking each thing game by game, but I really like where the mentality and the focus of our team is at right now."

This marks the first time in at least six years that MAU has hit three home runs in a single game and have a player hit a grand slam as well in that time span.

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